Frosty Days

We’re having a lovely winter here. Snow on the hills, frost on the dunes and some gorgeous clear moonlit nights. I should have gone for a walk in the hills for New Years Eve really as the moon was full and the snow looked lovely. It even looked quite wintry here on the coast this morning.

Early Morning Moon over Ynyslas Dunes

As I was rigging my windsurf kit up on the edge of the dunes here at Ynyslas yesterday, a big squall hit with 40 knot winds and heavy rain. I sat there huddled over my kit as a stoat ran out from the grass, sheltered under my sail for a few seconds and then scurried off into the grass again.

I haven’t seen a stoat in the dunes before, so that’s another species to add to my list!

Copyright Keven Law

It looks as though we have a busy weekend ahead of us. My parents are visiting so Morgan is looking forward to seeing ‘Ninny and Grandad’ and we’ve been looking for things to do.

Sculpture at Ynyslas Dunes Visitor Centre

There is quite a bit going on at the Ynyslas Dunes Visitor centre. On Friday evening they are organising a ‘National Moth Night’ billed as

“a fantastic opportunity to glimpse these nocturnal marvels. Come along to the visitors centre at Ynyslas with warm clothes and a torch.”

I’ve been meaning to do set up a moth-trap myself with Morgan so this sounds like an opportunity that will be too good to miss.

Then on Sunday they have an event about the reptiles of the dunes:

Dyfi National Nature Reserve : Reptiles and Amphibians of Ynyslas Visitor Centre: Come and discover these fascinating inhabitants of Ynyslas, and find out about the re-introduced sand-lizard.

I want to find out how many sand lizards they reintroduced here at Ynyslas, where they let them go etc. so if we have time we’ll pop down to that as well. Maybe we’ll see you there?

The weather looks good for the weekend, no wind, no rain and decent temperatures so it would be good to get the canoe out and go for a paddle as well… Lots to do here in sunny Wales!

Will I find time to mow the lawn as well!

Cool, I’ve just seen an article on TimesOnline saying that hundreds of sand lizards (Lacerta agilis) are to be released at various sites around the UK to boost the population. One of those sites is to be the dunes here at Ynyslas.

“In an attempt to restore Britain’s rarest lizard, the species is to be reintroduced at five sites in Surrey, Dorset and mid Wales. The first release of 80 baby lizards, which have been reared in hatcheries, is to take place today at a National Trust nature reserve in Witley, Surrey. During the next two weeks 320 more lizards are also to be introduced on Trust land in Surrey, at Puddletown and Coombe Heath reserve, near Wool, both in Dorset, and at Ynyslas Nature reserve, part of the Dyfi National Nature Reserve, north of Aberystwyth.”

Sand Lizard

We do have some reptiles in the dunes already. I have seen sand lizards there a few times but haven’t seen many lately, we get the odd adder and I saw a grass snake today (although unfortunately it was squashed on the road outside the house). It’ll be good to have some more around and I’ll have to go lizard hunting with the camera soon.

Lets hope they do well and the population increases.

I haven’t been out of the house for a week so as it was such a lovely day I just had to go for a nice easy walk in the dunes. I had Morgan with me so it was more of a tiny little stroll really, but I still managed to take a few photos.

I hope you like them

A fairly non-descript day here today. Not enough wind for windsurfing, no surf, a little grey in the hills (although a bike ride may be on for later in the day) so Morgan and I wandered across to the dunes to chill out.

There wasn’t much happening there either, but we did see some funky caterpillars.